Four metal swans were finally unveiled today in Tillydrone, four years on from when the art project first began.
Made in the style of kirigami, a variation of origami, the sculptures were voted for in May last year and won in a landslide vote.
One of four potential sculpture ideas put forward by the Tillydrone Gateway Feature, the swans have finally been installed near the Diamond Bridge.
Opened today with a ribbon cutting ceremony, those involved with the project and members of the community attended the official opening ceremony at 4pm.
Made out of metal and mounted on tall poles, Sean McVeigh, a member of the Tillydrone Gateway Feature team said he hopes the community see them as their own.
“So it’s almost exactly four years since we were first approached about this,” he said.
“And we’re very proud obviously of the fact that we’ve got the project to this stage and actually delivered on it and hopefully it will play a part in future developments.
“The swans can only give people more of a sense of pride in the area.
“We hope the community take them into their own ownership and start to feel a sense of pride about them. ”
Combining Tillydrone’s industrial background and nature
First approached with the idea in 2018, the project spent a year fundraising and working with the community looking at ideas. It was then put off a year because of Covid.
Mr McVeigh said: “Eventually we just got to the point we were thinking we don’t know how long this Covid is going to go on for.
“Let’s just go online and do an online consultation, we had an absolutely amazing response to our online consultation.”
Over 2,000 people responded positively to the idea and he says those involved since have been putting “their heart and soul” into the project.
At first, Mr McVeigh said he did not understand the idea behind the swans designed by Fife sculptor David Annand.
However, it was soon explained the swans were “a nod” to those seen on the River Don and the kirigami was reflecting Tillydrone‘s industrial origins.
He added: “What Tillydrone was actually built for in the first place was to service the mills that were along the Don.
“They had various mills but they also had paper mills and they were the latest ones to close.
“So the kirigami is a nod to the paper and the swans are obviously a bit of nature.”
‘Community in Tillydrone is phenomenal’
The 43-year-old said it had been “inspiring” seeing the community interact with the ongoing work.
“Seeing the people of Tillydrone stopping and talking to us has been absolutely brilliant,” Mr McVeigh added.
“The community that we’ve got in Tillydrone is just absolutely phenomenal.
“There can be a feeling that the way you get rid of poverty is by putting more money in people’s pockets when actually poverty is about more than that.
“Poverty is about your surroundings, it’s about where you are and what you’re looking at everyday.
“There’s so much happening in Tillydrone at the moment we just feel like the area is starting to feel a bit of pride in itself.”
Bringing the “wow-factor”, he hopes the sculptures will help bring more people into Tillydrone and build momentum for more art projects in the area.
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